Re: Knuckling under @hammarbtyp
Call us back when you work for a company that is able to increase the output power to a level greater than the input power.
Betz's law gives an absolute limit to the amount of energy that can be extracted from the wind by a perfect "actuator disk" aka turbine. So the efficiency figures AMSC claim are with respect to Betz's limit, hence their 94% efficient "HTS generator" at its output terminals will deliver at best circa 55.7% of the energy originally contained in the wind; although I note that AMSC do not actually give an efficiency figure for a complete tower and hence the above is based on an assumption...
Whilst AMSC's 94% efficiency is a big improvement on previous generation of equipment with 75~80% efficiency, it would seem that there is little room for further significant efficiency gains, yes they might be able to creep up to 98% but that ain't going to deliver significant increases in energy output. Nor are they going to resolve the problem of when the wind doesn't blow...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
